


What DOES the Fox Say?

by writer_slk



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: English Dub Problems, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 04:28:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16010312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writer_slk/pseuds/writer_slk
Summary: Rena Rouge and Ladybug return to Alya's apartment after a battle, only to realize that Alya doesn't know how to detransform without letting her Miraculous' timer run down.





	What DOES the Fox Say?

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a Reddit post from a few months ago.

Alya was out of breath when she – in her Rena Rouge transformation – touched down in front of the Césaire apartment. Ladybug landed right behind her, breathing pretty heavily herself.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t more help this time,” Alya panted.

“You _were_ helpful. You and Chat distracted the villain long enough for me to figure out how to use my Lucky Charm. Couldn’t have done it without you,” Ladybug replied cheerfully between labored breaths. Sweat trickled down her face and dripped off a loose tendril of hair that had escaped from her pigtails. She wiped it away absentmindedly.

Her earrings beeped and she grimaced.

“I hate to rush but I’m almost out of time. Could I… uh… take your Miraculous so I can be on my way?”

“Uh… Hmm.”

“Something wrong?”

“I didn’t use my Mirage power,” Alya said. “I’ve never had to detransform without using my power first. I don’t know _how_.”

“Oh, it’s easy. You have a detransformation phrase. It’s probably the opposite of your transformation phrase.”

“Opposite?”

“Yeah. Like Chat Noir’s transformation phrase is ‘Claws out’ and his detransformation phrase is ‘Claws in’. My transformation phrase is ‘Spots on’ and my detransformation phrase is ‘Spots—’”

She stopped and cleared her throat.

“‘Spots off’,” Alya finished for her.

“Exactly!”

“Um, Ladybug? My transformation phrase is ‘Let’s pounce’.”

Ladybug’s smile suddenly vanished and was replaced by a perplexed look.

 _You and me both, girl_ , Alya thought.

“Oh,” Ladybug said unhelpfully.

Her earring beeped again. “I’m sorry, Alya, I really do have to go! I’ll go feed my kwami and come back in about fifteen minutes for your Miraculous, okay?”

“Sure. Sure. Go on, Ladybug. I’ll figure it out,” Alya said, sounding far more confident than she felt. Ladybug shot her yo-yo out and flew quickly out of sight.

Alya sighed, looking at the place where Ladybug had disappeared from view. She looked around to see if anybody was watching, then tentatively opened the door of the apartment. She had left it unlocked when she left with Ladybug not so long ago. She stepped inside quickly and shut the door behind her.

 _What was the opposite of "Let’s pounce"?_ she wondered.

“Okay,” she said to nobody. “Trixx, um… let’s stop pouncing.”

Nothing happened.

“Let’s sit.”

Still nothing.

“Let _them_ pounce?”

If there were crickets in her apartment, they would’ve been chirping right about now.

Alya sighed and lifted the pendant of the Fox Miraculous off her chest, sliding it back and forth along its chain, feeling the grinding of metal against metal in her fingers and around her neck. Ladybug would be back in fifteen minutes. No, probably just thirteen by now.

Claws in, claws out. Spots on, spots off. Sure. Everyone else got easy transformation phrases. But _she_ got " _Let’s pounce"_.

“Let’s not pounce,” she said.

Nope.

She tried phrasing it the way she might’ve with Ella and Etta when they were a few years younger. “Pouncing all done?”

Also nope.

Twelve minutes left. Alya tried phrase after phrase, none of which did anything except make her feel increasingly silly.

Ten minutes left.  She shifted uncomfortably in her costume. She was starting to feel claustrophobic in the tight spandex that _would not come off_.

Eight minutes. She would be having a _talk_ with Trixx when this was all over.

Six minutes.

She sighed. She was going to feel really stupid if Ladybug came back and she was still standing here in her ridiculous, suffocating get-up.

She tapped her flute against her leg absently as she thought.

Then it hit her. Literally.

There were five minutes left and she hadn’t used her power to fight the villain. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t use it for something else.

Suddenly she grinned. She was a teenage girl with the power to create _any illusion she wanted_ for five minutes. No wonder Trixx didn’t have a detransformation phrase. He didn’t need one, because who in their right minds would not want an excuse to have to create and live out a fantasy, even if it were only for five minutes?

She tapped her chin thoughtfully. She didn’t have time to come up with her best fantasy this time (though now she knew what she would be doing the next time a lecture in class got boring).  But there was a certain secret guilty pleasure that she could indulge. One that she didn’t even dare admit to _Marinette_ , let alone anyone else in the world.

She checked all the windows that were visible from the living room. Most were covered already, but there was one with the curtains drawn back. She rushed over to it and jerked the curtains closed. She looked around again.

Satisfied that no one could see her now, she put the flute to her lips and blew. She shouted, “Mirage!” and threw the energy ball toward the middle of the living room.

She stared at the effect and felt the silly grin spread across her face. Oh yes. She could definitely get used to this.

She put a hand up, started to reach out…

Just in time, she remembered what would happen if someone tried to touch one of the illusions she created. It would vanish.

That was a pity.

* * *

Alya – still in Rena’s outfit – was sitting in a dining room chair that had been dragged into the middle of the living room. It was, unfortunately, turned away from the front door. She had one foot up on the coffee table, pushing the chair back onto its two hind legs. Her fingers were laced together and she had them behind her head, supporting its weight to take the strain off her neck. She _might_ have been smirking.

In front of her, Mr. XY was dancing _very_ suggestively.

She was too engrossed to hear when someone knocked at the door a few minutes later. Or when Ladybug called her name. Or when the door slowly opened and Ladybug stepped inside.

She _did_ hear when Ladybug shouted “AL-ya!” in a scolding voice that could’ve rivaled her mother’s. Startled, she kicked against the coffee table harder than she intended, and the chair toppled backward with a loud crash.

From her position on the floor, Alya tilted her head back and looked up at Ladybug’s face. Ladybug’s jaw had dropped comically. Her eyes were like saucers and one of them was twitching.

The Fox Miraculous beeped its final beep and Trixx flew out of it. Instantly, Alya was back in her own clothes. All traces of Rena Rouge – and Mr. XY – were gone.

Trixx bolted behind Ladybug’s back in a blurry streak of orange and white. Alya was sure she could hear him snorting with laughter.

As for Ladybug, there was really nothing to be said. Alya sat up sheepishly, took the necklace off, and handed it to her wordlessly. Ladybug took it, but her mouth was still agape and her eye was still twitching.

* * *

Alya noticed that it seemed like Marinette was unable to make eye contact with her for a full week after that. She was sure this must be her imagination because she had doublechecked those windows and there was no way anyone else could’ve seen in. Yes, Alya thought. She was merely projecting her own private embarrassment into her other relationships.

* * *

It was a suspiciously long time before Ladybug called on Alya to help with a battle again. And when she did, she made a point of telling Alya what Trixx’s detransformation phrase was. It was “Detransformez-moi.” Obviously.

 _Kwamis_.

**Author's Note:**

> We finally have an in-canon answer to this question! I was hoping it would remain a secret forever, but alas.


End file.
